At 4PM CDT, September 21st,  the center of Tropical Storm Beta was located at 28.2N 96.1W or 110 miles southwest of JSC and moving northwest at 5 MPH. Maximum sustained winds were 45 MPH. Beta is forecast to make landfall on the middle Texas coast near Port O’Connor this evening, slow down more and by tomorrow morning begin moving east northeast very near the coast and into Louisiana by Wednesday evening.

As of 3:40PM 1.60″ of rain has fallen today at JSC Building 30, 2.20″ including yesterday.  At NASA Ellington Field 1.47″ has fallen since midnight and 2.50″ including yesterday.  So far rain rates have been low enough to not cause any flash flooding. Another 2 to 3 inches of rain is through Wednesday afternoon is possible.

Water levels around Clear Lake have slowly decreased by nearly a foot since early this morning.  Low tide is at 6:51PM.  High tide will combine with the surge overnight near JSC, likely not quite as elevated as this morning.  No to very minor impact to JSC property is expected.

Peak wind gust so far today at JSC has been 37 mph.

Tropical Weather Info from National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Hurricane Statement from NWS Houston/Galveston:
http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=HGX&product=HLS&issuedby=HGX